Kirkby Road, Barwell, Leicestershire LE9 8FQ
Kick-Off 3pm
The Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round
Saturday 24th October 2015
Barwell FC v AFC Rushden & Diamonds
AFC Rushden & Diamonds will face Barwell FC in The Emirates FA Cup Fourth Qualifying Round on Saturday. Both clubs will be trying to reach the first round proper of the FA Cup for the first time. The Leicestershire club play in the Northern Premier League Premier Division – a Step 3 league.
Admission prices have been advised to be £10 adults, £6 concessions, £3 U16 with U11 free. If the scores are level after 90 minutes the game will be replayed at the Dog & Duck on Tuesday 27th October (KO 7:45pm).
There is a car park at the ground, and the Barwell Clubhouse is situated at the entrance to the complex where everyone is welcome before and after the game. Please note NO ALCOHOL is allowed inside the ground.
The winners of the tie will play in the First Round Proper of the competition on 7th November. Details of round dates and prize money are in the weekly competition bulletin here along with details of the other ties in the competition.
There is a Diamonds Match Diary here, and the club twitter feed will provide the latest information before, during and after the match using the link https://twitter.com/AFCRD or by following @AFCRD.
See below for details of all the social media options for following the Diamonds, as well as details on Radio Diamonds.
Our Opponents
As stated on Wikipedia, Barwell FC was formed at the start of the 1992–93 season as the result of a merger between Hinckley FC of the Midland Football Combination and Barwell Athletic F.C., who had previously played in the Leicestershire Senior League. The new club initially played in the Midland Football Combination before becoming a founder member of the Midland Football Alliance in 1994. In the 2010 season under the management of Marcus Law they were promoted to the Northern Premier League Division One South as champions of the Midland Football Alliance. During this season they went undefeated, winning 36 and drawing 6 of their 42 league games. They eventually made it to 62 undefeated league games before a defeat. They followed this by winning the 2010–11 Division One South and gaining promotion to Step 3, where they have played in both the Southern and Northern Premier Leagues.
Some Diamonds fans will remember ex-R&DFC youth team player Dom Brennan who is now with the Canaries, as well as veteran striker Iyesden Christie who faced R&DFC several times whilst playing for Kidderminster Harriers.. Another player that may be familiar to AFC R&D fans is Brady Hickey who faced the Diamonds whilst with St Andrews and also scored a hat-trick earlier in this season’s competition as detailed in this article.
In this season’s competition they have recorded three victories at Kirkby Road, knocking out Westfields (4-1), Cogenhoe United (5-0) and Step 3 Kings Lynn Town (1-0).
The Barwell club website is here and their twitter feed here. They play in Yellow and Green shirts with green shorts, so the Diamonds are planning on wearing their red strip for this game. The Canaries are managed by Jimmy Ginnelly.
Directions / Getting There
The club is running supporters’ coaches to this game – see here for details of subsidised prices and other information.
A Map and directions for the trip of around 45 miles to Kirkby Road, Barwell LE9 8FQ are here. Directions on the Barwell website suggest routes that include going through Hinckley, but they have provided a suggested route to avoid Hinckley. Leaving the M1 at junction 20, turn left onto A4303 for 2 miles then turn right onto the A5 towards Hinckley. At junction with M69 take the 4th exit towards Hinckley onto the B4109 towards Hinckley. In about 1.5 mile turn right at traffic lights into Brookside. At next set of lights at end of Brookside turn left. Follow road round and at 3rd set of lights turn right signposted Earl Shilton/Leicester. Keep on this road past golf club on right and Hinckley Utd ground on left and at large roundabout take 2nd exit signposted Barwell. In about 1.5 miles, centre of village, go straight over mini roundabout and then in 20 metres turn right into Kirkby Road. Entrance to complex is 400 metres on right opposite park.
Directions for those arriving from different directions are on the Barwell website here
Those travelling by public transport should consider a train to either Nuneaton or Leicester from where there is a bus service to Barwell. For door-to-door directions see the Traveline website.
Other Info
The fixture list is here, and latest fixture news is here. Details of the Diamonds playing squad and management team are here. Individual player profiles for the Diamonds squad are available here. Player and Match Stats are here, and previous seasons stats are here.
Player and Match Sponsorship options are detailed in the Commercial Section of this website as detailed here
There are a range of social media options available to help follow the Diamonds, with the well used and liked twitter feed to the fore, as well as a Facebook page and Club Instagram Page (follow afcrd). For this season we are also going to launch a Snapchat service, accessible on mobile platforms such as an iOS or Android Phone, so you can follow the live matchday story by finding afcrd on Snapchat.
Radio Diamonds will be broadcasting for this game – details here.
Don’t forget you can get a regular Diamonds news bulletin delivered to your inbox, including details of all the forthcoming fixtures by signing up to the Club Newsletter – you will see a sign-up box on the right-hand side of the site homepage – just under the Hevey Logo.
For details of the history of AFC Rushden & Diamonds see here.
There are details on how to become a member of AFC R&D here, as well as news on Season Tickets, Multiple Game Tickets and related prices here.
The club depends upon volunteer support from its fanbase. If you would like to join the group who help either on matchdays or behind the scenes see here.
People accessing the website via Tablet or Mobile who want to access some of the nested menus on the website may find the “Quick Links” tab useful – found just above the “Hevey” logo on the homepage.